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Game 1 Notes: Panthers, Oettinger, Henrique, Lindgren

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When they take on the New York Rangers tonight in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Florida Panthers will have a fully healthy roster. Earlier today, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reported that Sam Bennett, Dmitry Kulikov, and Niko Mikkola skated at practice this morning, and the trio would be in the lineup this evening.

Bennett, who has seemingly become one of the more controversial players in this year’s postseason, has already had to sit out five games with a hand injury. In Game 2 of the team’s Round One series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bennett took a slapshot off the hand from teammate Brandon Montour, and would not play again until Game 3 against the Boston Bruins. Likely still dealing with some nagging pain from the injury, it is not expected to keep Bennett out of the action moving forward.

Unlike Bennett, there were no formal announcements of injuries for either Kulikov or Mikkola, although the latter left Florida’s bench with about three minutes remaining in Game 6 against the Bruins. With both players confirmed to be in the lineup for Game 1 tonight, a completely healthy defensive core for the Panthers should give the Rangers quite a bit of trouble in generating offense.

Other Game 1 notes:

  • On the other side of the bracket, the Dallas Stars may be dealing with some trouble in the net ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, as goaltender Jake Oettinger left practice early today with an illness (Article Link). The team is expecting Oettinger to be healthy and ready for the opening matchup tomorrow night, but it could certainly complicate matters in the crease. In this year’s playoff against the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, Oettinger has started in all 13 games for the Stars, producing a solid .918 save percentage and 2.08 goals against average.
  • Staying in the Western Conference Finals, the Oilers are not expecting back forward Adam Henrique until at least Game 3 (X Link). Dealing with an undisclosed injury, Henrique only managed to play in Game 2 of Edmonton’s Round Two series against the Vancouver Canucks, and has not returned to the ice since. Now that the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have shrunk to only four teams, the Oilers will need all the help they can get up front to take down the Stars.
  • Moving back to New York, Dan Rosen of the NHL is reporting that defenseman Ryan Lindgren will enter into the lineup for Game 1. Although he has not missed a game this postseason, Lindgren did not skate with the team during Sunday’s optional skate and missed the team’s practices on Monday and Tuesday due to maintenance. Nevertheless, it appears that Lindgren will be good to go for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals this evening.

Sharks Sign Luca Cagnoni To Entry-Level Deal

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The Sharks have signed Luca Cagnoni, one of the organization’s top defense prospects, to an entry-level contract. It’s a three-year deal for the 19-year-old, per the team. The contract carries an $895K cap hit with the following breakdown, PuckPedia reports:

2024-25: $775K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus
2025-26: $800K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $55K games played bonus
2026-27: $825K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $30K games played bonus

Since Cagnoni will turn 20 before January 1, 2025, he is not eligible for an entry-level slide. His contract will begin next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays.

Viewed as a potential late first-round selection in the 2023 draft, Cagnoni fell all the way to the fourth round, where the Sharks snapped him up with the 123rd overall pick, acquired from the Kraken for depth defenseman Jaycob Megna. Seattle had previously acquired the pick from the Avalanche in exchange for Kurtis MacDermid.

Now, it looks like a difficult trade to stomach for both teams that passed up the pick. Cagnoni had an electric post-draft season for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks, leading the league in assists (72) and points (90) by a defenseman in 65 games. But despite posting the best offensive season by a WHL blue liner in 30 years, he wasn’t named one of the four finalists for their Defenseman of the Year award, passed over in favor of Avalanche prospect Graham Sward as the U.S. Division nominee.

Size remains Cagnoni’s main limitation. NHL teams were universally cautious about his 5’9″ frame, and he doesn’t have the elite defensive awareness to compensate for his lack of ability to box out larger opponents.

Still, he’s an incredible offensive threat who also put up nearly a point per game with Portland in his draft year. 2020 first-round pick Shakir Mukhamadullin, acquired from the Devils in last year’s Timo Meier trade, takes the cake as the organization’s top overall defense prospect after a strong season in the AHL, but Cagnoni has the highest ceiling in terms of point production of any defender in the San Jose system.

His December birthday also means he’s eligible for assignment to AHL San Jose next season, a likely scenario given he has nothing left to prove in juniors. He had 13 points in 13 playoff games as the Winterhawks advanced to the WHL championship but lost to the Moose Jaw Warriors in a sweep.

Cagnoni’s deal will expire after the 2026-27 season, at which point he’ll be a restricted free agent.

Lightning Sign Dyllan Gill To Entry-Level Contract

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The Lightning have signed right-shot defense prospect Dyllan Gill to his three-year, entry-level deal, per CapFriendly. It carries an $870K cap hit, including $775K in base salary, a $95K signing bonus, an $80K games played performance bonus, and a minors salary of $82.5K annually.

Tampa would have lost Gill’s exclusive signing rights if they hadn’t inked him to a deal by next month. This would have allowed him to re-enter the draft and be eligible for selection in 2024.

Gill, 19, has spent his major junior career in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. While he served as captain this season, his campaign was cut short after just 12 games due to an upper-body injury.

The defender had a strong post-draft season with Rouyn-Noranda in 2022-23, though, posting eight goals and 49 assists for 57 points in 68 games with a +12 rating. He’s intelligent with the puck in his own end and has good size at 6’2″.

The New Brunswick native turns 20 next month and is eligible for assignment to AHL Syracuse next season. However, after missing most of last year due to injury, the Lightning could loan him back to Rouyn-Noranda for an overage season if the club has an open spot. Canadian Hockey League clubs are allowed to carry three 20-year-olds on their roster at any given time.

Gill will become a restricted free agent when his deal expires after the 2026-27 season. His younger brother, Spencer Gill, is also a right-shot defenseman and is expected to be a second or third-round pick in this year’s draft.

Kings Sign Aatu Jamsen To Entry-Level Deal

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The Kings signed forward prospect Aatu Jämsen to a two-year, entry-level contract last night, per CapFriendly. The deal carries an $852.5K cap hit and will pay him $775K in base salary, a $77.5K signing bonus and a minor-league salary of $80K each season.

Notably, Jämsen’s contract does not have a European assignment clause. He was entering the final season of his contract with Liiga’s Pelicans, but it now appears he’ll come over and make his North American professional debut for AHL Ontario next season.

Jämsen, 22 in July, has been on a solid development path since being drafted by the Kings in the seventh round in 2020. The 6’2″ winger has been a solid middle-six depth scorer for Pelicans over the past two seasons, putting up 14 goals each year. He was limited by injuries this year, appearing in 36 out of 60 games, but still managed 14 goals and 25 points with a +7 rating.

That kind of production in a professional league at a young age is a promising sign as he makes the move to Southern California. Expecting him to receive an NHL call-up next season would be premature, but he should slot into a significant role on the farm with the Reign.

Jämsen will be waivers exempt for the life of the entry-level deal unless he plays more than 70 NHL games. He’ll become a restricted free agent upon expiry in 2026.

Capitals Re-Assign Vincent Iorio

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After sustaining an injury in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Capitals rookie defenseman Vincent Iorio is ready to return. That’s good news for their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, who are still alive in the Calder Cup Playoffs and will add his services for the remainder of the season, per a team announcement.

Washington picked up Iorio from the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, going 55th overall. He’s seen limited major-league action in each of the past two seasons, recording an assist and a +1 rating in nine games while playing an extremely minimal role, averaging 11:20 per game.

The 21-year-old was forced into playoff action for the Caps after Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin went down with injuries near the end of the regular season, but logged just two shifts in Game 1 of the first round against the Rangers. He sustained an upper-body injury that knocked him out of the remainder of the four-game sweep.

Iorio, a 6’3″ right-shot defender, has been a good two-way force for the most dominant team in the AHL over the past two years. Since turning pro, the British Columbia native has six goals, 36 points and a +43 rating in 123 games for the Bears. He had a goal and four assists in 15 games for Hershey in last year’s run to the Calder Cup.

A strong passer and breakout puck-mover, Iorio will be in contention to land a spot on the Caps’ blue line next season. He has two seasons remaining on his entry-level contract with a $814K cap hit.

Kings Sign Jim Hiller To Multi-Year Extension, Remove Interim Tag

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1:07 p.m.: Hiller has officially been named the team’s 30th head coach in franchise history. They did not disclose the length of the extension.

8:57 a.m.: The Kings have removed the interim tag from head coach Jim Hiller and signed him to a multi-year contract extension, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports Wednesday. He was widely expected to land the vacancy after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Monday that he was the “overwhelming favorite” to take over behind the bench full-time.

Hiller assumed head coaching duties coming out of the All-Star break after Todd McLellan was fired following a January skid that put their playoff positioning in jeopardy. He was able to stabilize their slide, posting a 21-12-1 record behind the bench in the final few months of the season as they finished third in the Pacific Division.

While there was a fair amount of speculation the Kings would go for an external hire after a third straight first-round loss to the Oilers, it never turned into full-on rumor status. No notable candidates were ever linked to L.A.’s vacancy, and Hiller spoke with the rest of the Kings’ hockey operations department during their end-of-season press availability.

Hiller, 55, continues to assume the head coach title for the first time in a decade. His only professional coaching experience has been in assistant roles, although he was the bench boss of the Western Hockey League’s Chilliwack Bruins and Tri-City Americans from 2006 to 2014. He joined the Kings as an assistant on McLellan’s staff ahead of the 2022-23 season after being let go by the Islanders.

Today isn’t the end of the Kings’ coaching decisions this offseason, however. They still need to add an assistant to replace Trent Yawney, who they mutually parted ways with last week.

Hypothetical Landing Spots For Martin Necas

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With the excitement of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs and some notable events that have already taken place, one important news item buried over the last week is that the Carolina Hurricanes do not intend on signing forward Martin Necas to an extension this summer, and could look to move him in the offseason. Necas will become a restricted free agent on July 1st after his two-year, $6MM bridge deal expires.

Over the last four years, Necas has shown flashes of being a consistent scorer at the NHL level and other flashes of being a complimentary piece at best. Because of this, the General Manager Don Waddell and the Hurricanes organization do not seem adamant about meeting Necas’ demands, who likely has his eyes on a long-term deal. Since Necas is still only 25 years old, an eight-year contract extension would put him between 33 and 34 upon expiration, meaning this may be his only chance at signing a max contract.

Playing up and down Carolina’s lineup, Necas certainly looks more comfortable on the wing but has been known to line up down the middle on occasion. In 362 games spent with the Hurricanes, Necas has scored 97 goals and 243 points while also putting up 11 goals and 30 points over 59 postseason games, as well.

Not only has Necas shown an ability to put together strong seasons, but playing in Carolina’s system has allowed his possession numbers to flourish, posting a 63.6 and a 61.8 CorsiFor% in the last two years alone. In the right situation, Necas could prove to be a wise investment in the near and long term.

Since Necas lies somewhere between a top-line winger and a complimentary piece, and assuming the Hurricanes allow him to discuss an extension with the acquiring team, Necas would be wise to look for an already established team. The two that come to mind, in terms of need and style of play, would be the Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers.

Even before the loss of winger Valeri Nichushkin for at least the next six months, the Avalanche have had a problem at the winger position since the loss of Gabriel Landeskog after the 2022 Stanley Cup run. With Landeskog once again expected to start the season on LTIR, and Nichushkin’s contract in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, Colorado should have more than enough financial flexibility to sign Necas. With Zach Parise confirmed to have played his last game at the NHL level last week, and Jonathan Drouin potentially pricing himself out of Denver with a solid year, Necas could be a solid fit to move fluidly in the top two lines of the Avalanche forward core.

Moving back to the Eastern Conference; if any team was going to challenge the Hurricanes as the best defensive team in hockey, it would be the Panthers. Finishing behind Carolina in both CorsiFor% and penalty kill percentage, the Panthers were only one of two teams to suffer less than 200 goals during the 2023-24 regular season.

Unfortunately, Florida has a tough offseason coming up, with Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour set to hit unrestricted free agency with too few dollars to go around. Acquiring Necas, will not completely replace the production left by Reinhart, but it would certainly soften the blow. Picking up Necas from the Hurricanes would also allow the Panthers to prioritize signing Montour to have a mostly intact defensive unit heading into the 2024-25 NHL season.

As far as the price for Necas, outside of a possible extension, should not be as steep as many would think. Since it has already broken out into the open that Carolina has no intention of giving Necas what he is asking for, the acquiring team would only be responsible for acquiring his signing rights out of the gate.

In this case, the Avalanche may be in a better position to acquire Necas from Carolina, as the Hurricanes may entertain an offer for the 24th overall pick of this year’s upcoming draft. Florida, on the other hand, does not have ownership over their first-round pick this year, having already sent it to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Claude Giroux trade.

Arseni Gritsyuk To Remain In KHL

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Over the past couple of days, one of the major news items was that forward Matvei Michkov is intent on terminating his contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL to begin his career with the Philadelphia Flyers organization. The same will not be true for Michkov’s teammate, Arseni Gritsyuk, who will remain with SKA St. Petersburg for the 2024-25 KHL season, instead of signing on with his draft team, the New Jersey Devils.

In an article published by James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now, the agent of Gritsyuk, Shumi Babev stated, “Gritsyuk will stay in SKA for sure. If nothing’s gonna be changed, [he] will join [New Jersey] in the next season”. Unlike Michkov, Gritsyuk’s contract is set to end after the 2024-25 season, indicating that he is resolute on honoring that agreement before taking his talents overseas.

Drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft at 129th overall by the Devils organization, Gritsyuk’s slow start to his professional career coupled with his desire to stay in his native Russia for the time being caused him to fall quite a bit down the draft board. Over the last two years in the KHL, Gritsyuk has played for both Avangard Omsk and SKA, scoring 34 goals and 78 points over his last 116 games.

This commitment made by Gritsyuk to St. Petersburg may represent a mutually beneficial option for both himself and New Jersey. Gritsyuk will be able to hone his talents in a comfortable environment, while the Devils can allow him to grow before rushing him too quickly to North America.

Poll: Should The Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Mitch Marner?

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At the start of the 2018-19 NHL season, there was not a more excited fanbase than that of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Not only did the Maple Leafs have young phenoms budding in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander, but the organization brought marquee free agent John Tavares into the mix on a seven-year, $77MM contract.

Since the informal start of the ’Core Four’, Toronto has appeared in the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons but has only managed to get out of the First Round once. Although there has been some speculation in the past, it appears the Maple Leafs organization may be giving more serious thought to breaking up the quartet.

To preface, Marner is not uniquely worse than any other member of the group, as they all bring their separate strengths to Toronto’s lineup. However, with Tavares’ $11MM cap hit next season likely keeping him from the trade block, coupled with Matthews and Nylander recently signing big-money extensions to stay with the organization, Marner looks like the most predictable candidate to be the odd man out.

Marner is entering the last season of a six-year, $65.408MM extension signed with Toronto in 2019, with a full No-Move Clause kicking in on July 1st of last year. If the Maple Leafs are set on moving Marner this offseason, they will need his consent no matter the destination or the return package.

Assuming Toronto does not retain any salary, and they are not taking any large AAV contracts back in return, moving Marner will allow the Maple Leafs to free up nearly $11MM in cap space, as well as acquire plenty of young talent and draft capital in return. Especially if the acquiring team can sign Marner to an extension as a part of the trade package, Toronto could set themselves up nicely for the future even by trading just one of the ’Core Four’.

Although it would be nice if Toronto could have more future capital, as well as the flexibility to better re-allocate their financial resources, there is no guarantee that any player or pick acquired will turn out to be half the player that Marner is. Over eight years in Toronto, Marner has put up 639 points in 576 games; an offensive output that is rare to come across in an individual player. Since it’s hard to imagine a prospect or draft pick coming back to the Maple Leafs being even nearly as good as Marner, it complicates the argument that a move such as this would put them in a better position to win.

Now the vote is left to you, to be a more competitive team in next year’s playoffs, is Toronto better served by keeping Marner for the long haul, or should they try and move on from him this summer?

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